Visit to Vammala - January 2005

Visit to Vammala - January 2005
Scottish and German students with their Finnish hosts + Mr D with funny hat and a Brazilian exchange student

STUDENTS? REPORT

Setting off at 4 am on Wednesday 12th January, 4 Scottish students had no idea what to expect from our visit to Finland. We knew it was going to be cold - as low as -20?C but as far as language and culture were concerned we were clueless. Luck was on our side as we were on the only plane to leave Edinburgh in 100 mph storm-force winds. We arrived safely in Copenhagen and after a day there we met the German representatives and continued on to Tampere, Finland.

Our first impressions of Finland were that it was dark and cold, and we were grateful for the warm greeting from our Finnish hosts. We found the next morning, on arrival at the school, that it was still dark and cold as the sun didn?t rise until after 9.30am.

During our stay we had the opportunity to take part in many new activities ? from ice sculpting to experiencing the sauna. The Finns seemed very keen to show us their museums, and we all enjoyed viewing an exhibition dedicated to the Moomins (a cartoon of Finnish origin). Ice sculpting gave us the chance to create some art of our own, and to get to know the other participants.

One full day was spent in the city of Tampere shopping and sightseeing, before making our way back to the station. No-one had told us what to expect from the evening ahead, and we all became very apprehensive when people started hinting at jumping into frozen lakes. We made our way into a sauna, where we sat singing national songs and chatting. 20 minutes later we were running through the snow towards the lake, which we were expected to jump in to. With various degrees of success we accepted the challenge, and could then relax and enjoy the party.

The following day we woke up to find 20cms of snow on the ground ? it was unfortunate that this was our last day. After saying our goodbyes and paying a quick visit to the newly rebuilt St Olav?s church we enjoyed the scenery on the way to Tampere airport.

Our thanks to everyone ? particularly Hilkka Rajakorpi, the Finnish Comenius Co-ordinator ? who made our time in Finland so enjoyable. We are also grateful to Antti Rajakorpi who gave us a valuable insight to the Finnish school system by allowing us into his school. Our hosts were brilliant, and we are looking forward to returning the favour when they visit Scotland in April ? hopefully the weather won?t be so extreme! Last but not least, we would like to thank our teachers for giving us the opportunity to go, and for making the trip so memorable!

(Susan, Flora, Rowan & Lynda)

TEACHERS' REPORT

What images are conjured up as we, as teachers, think back on what was truly the experience of a lifetime ?

Was it getting up at 4.30 am and waiting at Edinburgh airport in the worst gales of the year while all flights are grounded ? Our flight was the only one called and it was with not a little trepidation that we boarded the plane ! Our flight was amazingly smooth and uneventful and we reached Copenhagen ahead of schedule.

Or was it strolling through the streets of Copenhagen, admiring the many candles set out on the pavements to express Christmas cheer and to dispel the gloom of winter ? Perhaps this was assisted by the superb Danish lunch eaten in a cellar restaurant or the fascinating exhibits in the museum or just wondering at the fast and spotlessly clean Danish train which had whisked us from the airport to the city centre.

Then it was a flight to Tampere, the second city of Finland, to be met by a minibus at the airport and driven in the darkness to Vamalla where we met our hosts for the first time. As teachers, we were hosted by teachers from our host school, and we were warmly welcomed into their homes.

So, more images?.school starting at 8 am so we had to be up at 6.45 am. Wrestling with the complexities of the equivalent of advanced Higher maths in Finnish or going to a music lesson which at least we could follow because music transcends all languages. Or seeing pictures of Peebles on the walls of an English classroom, making us feel very much at home. The students, the equivalent of our S5, S6 and first ? year university, wore casual clothes (as did the staff) and worked in a friendly and relaxed style. The lessons were traditional in style, conducted in modern, well-equipped classrooms. The students were like teenagers everywhere and were not paragons of virtue ! We observed surreptitious texting of friends, chewing gum and quiet chat when there should have been work, just as you would in a Scottish school. But, just as you would at home, we saw examples of excellent practice and students producing excellent work, notably presentations in English which were to a very high standard.

We visited several churches, admiring the magnificent architecture and pipe organs which seemed to be a feature and even attending a choir practice and a church service on the Sunday morning. We enjoyed shopping in the stores well stocked with familiar and not-so-familiar items. We learned about snow sculpture, Finnish myths and legends and visited a fascinating museum in Tampere. Here we learned about Finnish history and about its economy with an emphasis on the cloth and shoe manufacturing which has been so important in the past. We also discovered that Nokia is not a Japanese make of mobile phone but a Finnish town and a firm which has diversified from making rubber goods such as boots and tyres to the manufacture of mobile phones famous the world over.

We attended a concert in Tampere?s magnificent new concert hall. The music consisted of three 20th century works which might best be described as ?interesting? while the final work on the programme, a symphony by the composer Chausson, was much more accessible and enjoyed by us all.

We learned to take off our shoes when we entered anyone?s home and to put on warm jacket, hat and gloves before venturing out. We learned about driving with studded tyres and to give way to traffic from the right ! We watched the students build snow sculptures and admired their stamina as far as entering freezing cold lakes in their swimsuits was concerned, protesting that we were too old for such activities !

Overall, we were imbued with a sense of being made so very welcome and of being among friends. Friends we had met on previous Comenius visits to Peebles and also new friends, both from Finland and from Germany. As one of our host said when he proposed a toast : ?Long live international cooperation !?

(Anne Derrick and Nicola Arney)